Safety at Home

By Whitney

Since Halloween is among the top three holidays that produce the most ER visits, it seems like an appropriate topic for this blog.

What? Thousands of kids running around after dark, amped on sugar and adrenaline, wearing long robes and masks through which they can hardly see? Sounds like a great idea!

Yes, the children should wear slip-resistant shoes, like sneakers. Sorry, Disney Princesses! Maybe mom can place a patch of masking tape to the bottom of your shoes. And they should wear costumes that fit well without dragging on the ground. But, it turns out the most common Halloween injuries are to hands and fingers.  Can you see where this is going?

Pumpkin carving can be seriously dangerous. For the risk-averse, there are non-carving options, such as painting a pumpkin, purchasing fake light-up jack o’lanterns, or using any number of preschool art techniques to decorate it. For the purists, however, Halloween requires a carved pumpkin, and we will do this together as a family, gosh darn it!

The AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEONS has something to say about this.  They shared some safety tips that I want to pass along:

• Never let children carve pumpkins.  Adults carving pumpkins should remember to use specifically designed carving knives, rather than kitchen knives, as they are less likely to get stuck in the thick pumpkin skin.  Carve the pumpkin in small, controlled strokes, away from oneself on a strong, sturdy surface.
• Carving knives should be kept in a clean, dry, well-lit area.  Any moisture on the tools, hands, or table can cause the knife to slip, leading to injuries.
• Should a pumpkin carver cut a finger or hand, make sure the hand is elevated higher than the heart and apply direct pressure to the wound with a clean cloth to stop the bleeding.  If continuous pressure does not slow or stop the bleeding after 15 minutes, an emergency room visit may be necessary.  Additionally, it may be wise to follow-up with a hand surgeon to make sure everything is okay and nothing needs repair.

Aside from taking a knife to an innocent vegetable, we should all be extra cautious on Halloween.  What Halloween rules do you have for your kids?

(no-carve pumpkin photo courtesy Parents magazine/Jim Franco)

By Whitney

The tree is gone. The lights are down. The ornaments are back in storage where they belong until next December. What am I left with, in addition to lovely family memories of this holiday season?

A five-year old who is obsessed with plugging things in.

After the Safety at Home wreath-making party, I told Julian that he could plug in the lights that were wrapped around his wreath as long as an adult is watching him. This seemed simple enough. He loved the new privilege, and each day when we came in the door after school, he raced over to his wreath and said, “Mommy, can you watch me plug this in?!”

Then, when we really started decking our halls, he became enthralled. The simple strand of lights that turn on when plugged into the wall? Now they plug into an extension cord! And the extension cord plugs into the wall! He wanted to plug and unplug both of these connections on a regular basis. “Plugs are not toys.” I have made this motherly statement about 693 times since Christmas.

When we decorated the plum tree in our front yard, the excitement grew to another level. Three! Strings! Of Lights! All plugged into one another in a glorious daisy chain of electricity! He walked back and forth from the tree to the outlet just inside our crawl space where the cords meet up with the juice that powers them. I could see him tracing the logistics of what plugs into what over and over again. He was getting geekier by the minute.

And then? When we visited festive destinations (such as every single retail store during December), he would disappear behind fixtures and underneath curtains, on his knees examining the system by which the holiday lights were being powered. We could not walk by a store window without stopping to discuss where the lights or moving reindeer might be plugged in.

Now that the Grinch has visited our home and removed all of the holiday lights, Julian is acutely aware of how many outlets are in our house. (42, he’ll tell anyone who comes to visit.) For every outlet that’s not being used, he has a suggestion. He’ll dig an extension cord out of a cabinet in the laundry room and bring it over to me in the dining room. “Mommy, can I plug this in?”

And I don’t know where this obsession will end. Just yesterday he realized that many of our appliances have USB outlets and headphone jacks. He walked around with a set of headphones, looking for a place to stick the jack. And, I caught him trying to plug a microphone from our video game console into our home computer.

So if you ever need an electrician with absolutely no experience, but full of unbridled enthusiasm, I’ve got a 5-year old who would very much like the job.

(If you’ve got kids under five in your house or visiting your house, make sure to keep all outlets covered with childproof plug inserts. Even the outlets behind the couch – those are the most compelling to toddlers!)